Ofir Marciano will leave Hibernian at the end of the season after failing to agree a contract extension at Easter Road.
The Israeli international turned down the offer of a new deal with Jack Ross’ side despite the two parties being locked in talks for months over remaining in the Capital beyond this summer.
The 31-year-old, who joined the club on an initial loan deal in 2016, has been linked with moves to Premiership rivals Celtic and Hapoel Be’er Sheva in his homeland, though it was hoped he would commit his future to the Leith outfit after settling in the capital with wife Shelley and three-year-old Sun.
However, he also hinted at his desire to play in the English Premier League in a recent interview with an Israeli media outlet and took the decision to walk away from the negotiating table with just over two months of his contract left to run before he becomes a father for the second time.
“ Ofir won’t accept the deal, won’t be taking up the offer of the contract beyond the expiry of the current one in the summer,” manager Ross confirmed.
“He’s been open about that with me. We offered him the best we could within our structure, but I think he’s at an important part of his career in terms of his future.
“He has a young family with another child on the way. He’s in his 30s now and he feels like his future lies elsewhere.
“I appreciate he has been open with me because we have that type of relationship, and it allows me to start to plan for life beyond the summer when he is not with us.”
The men in green and white are now likely to have a quick summer reshuffle of their goalkeeping options with backups Matt Macey and Kevin Dabrowski also out of contract.
Ross previously explained that talks with Marciano and fellow out of contract star Jackson Irvine would not be allowed to drag on longer than necessary to allow the club an opportunity to prepare for next season - when they could face an early resumption for Europa Conference League qualifiers.
“We always do the best we can within our structure to keep our best players. But there’s always a ceiling on that – there has to be in order for us to keep moving the club forward,” Ross added.
“We did the best we could and Ofir was respectful of that. Him and I enjoy a good relationship and the good thing is he felt comfortable enough to come and tell me his decision rather than it dragging on and it becoming problematic.”
Hibs go to Ross County on Saturday with hopes of overcoming their recent slide in form following back to back defeats at home to Motherwell and away at St Johnstone.
The Leith outfit maintain a three-point lead over managerless Aberdeen in the race for the Premiership’s third spot after twice missing their chance to extend the gap to the misfiring Dons.
Ross remains convinced there will be no drop off in performance levels from his stopper as he rallied the squad to finish the season strongly.
“He has got a strong focus and desire to make sure we finish in third in the league,” Ross said.
“We are both clear in where we are at and I don’t think it has affected him in any way in terms of his performance.”
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